When you introduce yourself to a prospect or to someone you just met at a networking or other business event, how long does it take to explain yourself? And what words do you use when describing your company? Now, go to your website and compare the copy on your site to what you would say when meeting someone.
Is it in synch or is there a lot of fluff and banner waving? The problem we see on a lot of sites is that there seems to be the misconception that visitors have a lot of free time and are just desperate to learn more about your company.
Your website copy could be causing eye strain to your visitors and resulting in them just leaving your site all together.
The key to strong website copy is to understand that this is NOT your corporate brochure.
This is NOT where you do your song and dance.
Your website is where you ANSWER a need or question quickly and succinctly.
Think like a visitor.
How did they get to your site and what is it they want to know? Studies show that visitors don't read, they scan.
You have a sum total of about 6 seconds for them to decide to stay or click away.
If you must have a lot of copy, then it needs to be broken out into easy to digest sections with bold headlines that help the eye follow through to the main points.
We'd like to make some suggestions that might help you with your web copy.
oExplain what you do or have to offer in one simple clean sentence.
oKeep your paragraphs short, average 50-70 words, you're not writing a book here.
oAvoid kitchy jargon-laden speak, fluff, pomp and all the techie, hype, superfluous, superficial adjectives.
o Think conversation.
Your content should be responding to the question they asked that got them there so it should read with phrases that contain you and yours.
If every paragraph contains we, me or our, your website is suffering from narcissism.
o Have all of your content done in a program that offers spell and grammar checking and rigorously check the spelling and grammar.
If you are editing and tweaking to perfection, remember to put your final cut into the spell and grammar check before putting it on your site.
We have come across company sites where their own name is spelled wrong on the website.
I'm guessing that the world did not come to an end but maybe they will have trouble convincing someone that their company pays attention to the details when servicing them.
o Be relevant.
Just look at the heading on the page and match it to the content to be sure you haven't gone off topic or off on a rant.
If you need to introduce or mention something that really belongs somewhere else, provide a link to that page in a sentence rather than repeating the same material.
o Be real and genuine.
Be able to deliver on the promise.
We suggest circulating your content to everyone in your company for a couple of reasons.
First, their insight might really be helpful and secondly, they are going to be charged with delivering the promise so it would be helpful if they knew what that was.
Concise, appropriate web content can make the difference between a recurring visitor and a one-scan wonder.
Keep it short, sweet and to the point, and you won't go wrong.